The Supreme Court’s docket for interim emergency relief in the 2025-26 term included 123 applications, according to a new statistical review. The court resolved 44 capital cases, 43 refiled applications, and 36 substantive applications (consisting of requests for stays, injunctions, or other intervention in non-capital matters).
A shift from the previous term
The 2024-25 term saw a surge in emergency applications from the Trump administration, which the court often granted. The current term presented a different pattern. The Trump administration filed fewer applications and lost more of them. The court ruled on only nine Trump administration applications this term and granted relief in five (that is, 56%) of them. Last term, the court granted 19 of 21 applications from the administration, a 90% success rate.
Applications from the Trump administration took longer to resolve, averaging 26 days from filing to decision. This is longer than the 15-day average for all other substantive applications. Substantive cases fell from 49 to 36, a 27% drop. The decline came entirely from the Trump administration, whose substantive cases fell from 21 to nine. These cases fell from 21 to nine. Applications from other state and private parties remained steady, moving from 26 to 27.
Public disagreement remains high
Public disagreement among justices occurred in 61% of substantive applications, or 22 out of 36. This is a decrease from the 76% disagreement rate last term but remains well above the pre-2014 average of 13.5%. When the court granted relief, at least one justice noted a dissent 89% of the time. When it denied relief, a noted dissent occurred only 33% of the time.
Noted dissents were aligned with political appointment patterns in 91% of cases. Dissenting justices were all appointed by presidents of the same party in 20 of the 22 applications that drew a dissent. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led the court with 15 noted dissents and disagreements, followed by Justice Sonia Sotomayor with 13 and Justice Elena Kagan with 12. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito each noted six. Justice Neil Gorsuch noted two, and Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh each noted one. Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the only justice who did not note a dissent or disagreement in any substantive application.
Increased explanation, faster rulings
The court provided written opinions with 39% of substantive applications, an increase from 31% last term and 23% in the 2023-24 term. Decisions were also made faster this term, averaging 18 days from filing to decision, down from 30 days last term.
Capital applications reached 44 this term. The court denied every one of the 41 requests to pause an execution. It granted two of the three state requests to let an execution go forward after a lower court had paused it. One of these grants occurred in the final week of the term in the case of Christa Pike. Refiled applications reached a 21-term high of 43, and all were denied without a noted dissent.
Details on the Trump administration’s record
The administration had a losing record in one of the three subject areas (immigration, elections, and executive power), and it may not be the one you expect. The count shows how often each justice sided with the administration, with a range from eight of nine applications to none.
